Film Reviews by AER

I was warned that this was a turkey but I like Tom Cruise and thought to myself, how bad can it be? And it it is woeful. Terrible script, illogical story and shonky SFX, this even made The Scorpion King look dope. Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella and Russell Crowe should also share the blame for delivering one of the very worst summer blockbusters I've seen since Josh Trank's Fantastic 4. It's no wonder Universal's Dark Universe series got canned with this as it's keystone release. At least the public voted with their feet and stayed at home. This really stank.

1 out of 10 - Bogus

This Australian film is high concept but strangely flat and more than a bit trite. Sadly, this tale of a dead man's family who believe his spirit lives on in a giant fig tree that overhangs their house is extraordinarily lifeless. The actors try their best but it's too slow, too formulaic, manipulative and corny to work. Most of all its there's a distinct distance created between the film and viewer and I experienced a lack of involvement and that's probably because we don't get to know the father who they are mourning. It's a shame, as this could have been much better had it paid attention to its script and pace.

3 out of 10

I thoroughly enjoyed this road movie starring newcomer Zack Gottsagen, Shia La Beouf and Dakota Johnson. A runaway from an old people's care home, Zak falls in with another runaway, Tyler who has fallen foul of local fishermen. Heading into the wilds of coastal North Carolina, they go in search of a wrestling school ran by a former star that Zak is obsessed with. In hot pursuit are the fishermen that Tyler crossed, and Zak's carer, Eleanor. The film is packed with event and is very warm, relatable, funny and convincing. The film only falters in the last five minutes when an event steals Zak's thunder and derails a potentially wonderful ending.

8 out of 10 - Very enjoyable and watchable. Gottsagen and La Boeuf are a great double act. Superb supporting cast too including Thomas Haden Church, John Hawkes, Bruce Dern, Jon Bernthal, and wow Jake 'The Snake' Roberts....

Thank goodness it's not quite the Dad's Army / Richard Curtis-goes-to-war film that the trailer tried to sell us. However, as intriguing as this real-life story is it's still fairly standard, very dreary and in the end, not at all interesting. A solid cast go through the motions and fail to sell us the peril and high stakes of their plan. Some aspects felt forced like the presence of Ian Fleming (played by singer Johnny Flynn) and the references to James Bond. On the whole, you are left wondering what a film about the life of Glyndwr (the corpse) would have been like - but much of his involvement is played for fits and giggles in this. Ultimately, it was a little too broad and lacked grit or punch.

4 out of 10

I don't understand why this film has the terrible reputation it does. It's nowhere near as bad a some of the larger scale blockbusters / reboots etc that dominate the cinemas. It's taken me over 10 years to catch up with it and its not all that bad. It's not a masterpiece but it has a lot of originality and cool ideas to spare. True John Malkovich stinks as the baddie - he seems half-asleep, and the mind boggles as to how come there's a legion of great character actors filling out the ranks in thankless supporting roles (hello, Lance Reddick, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett, Michael Shannon, Aidan Quinn). This is like an inventive version of Wild Wild West, another blockbuster western that was deemed a turkey like this. Dodgy politics aside (Hex fought for the Confederates) this doesn't waste a minute of its trim 80 min Josh Brolin is committed as Jonah Hex and made a good impression and Megan Fox matched him in a very thin role. It was fun - didn't outstay its welcome and with expectations lower than a snake's bellybutton, this was very enjoyable.

5 out of 10 - Entertaining but stupid

Baddddddddd SFX withstanding, George A Romero's Dawn of the Dead is still a stone-cold horror classic. Wonderful set-pieces and zombies that just won't let go once they have a grip of you! I don't have to write much more because if you are here you are probably revisiting it because you loved it when you first saw it. Many zomibe films these days are filled with people who can despatch a zombie without thinking about it and they carry very little threat. However, as silly as they look with their grey faces, the zombies in this are still deadly and their uncanniness stays with you. Dawn of the Dead still has power - the remake is also one of the very best horror remakes of all time too, and it very near eclipses it if it wasn't for the sheer number of characters in the later one.

CLASSIC

Moving but ultimately maybe too slight to make a lasting impression on me. Time will tell. It reminded me of Bombon El Perro with it's minimalist style. Sad and interesting but like a long road trip, wearying.

Intriguing early Steven Soderbergh movie where he began to adopt his trademark editing tricks. This a clever little movie that presents a likeable lead who is ultimately a pretty despicable bloke. For a while, you're watching it wandering where the 'bad guy' is before you realise that it's our hero. Peter Gallagher returns home to Austin, TX for his mother's wedding and has to account for his past absence to his brother and his old girlfriend. He ran out on dangerous gambling debts and it would seem that his ways haven't changed. This has us on the hook until the aftermath of a doomed heist and then slips and slides to an unconvincing ending over the last 15 mins or so. It's a shame as this was 3/4 classic grift with delicious dialogue and interesting characters. It's a lost Soderbergh film that needs another look.

Keep an eye out for tiny cameos from Richard Linklater and Soderbergh himself.

7 out of 10

Rurangi is an insightful story about a transgender man who returns to his home town (of the title) ten years after he ran away. When Caz left he was a girl, and by a plot contrivance finds himself in his hometown after running his car off the road. Re=establishing bonds with old friends, his father and most interestingly, his school era boyfriend, this packs a lot of incident into it's short running time. So, ultlmately, the ending feels rushed and a leaves you wanting more - it begins to delve into some interest dynamics of character but shies away from getting too deep again and again. There is a lot here that is interesting though, and that's what I found frustrating, a good film about being trans in a small-town that offers up a lot of food for thought but ends up working merely as a gateway rather than something with a little bit more depth. Maybe now Rurangi has opened the door, there is room for another film to pick up where this one left off. It needed another 30 minutes to flesh out a few of the supporting characters.

Much to see, much to like, it just needed to be longer to give the whole cast room to grow and relationshop dynamics to be explored further. Instead a sub-plot about pesticides threatens to take centre stage at the last minute...

6 out of 10

William Hurt, Harold Perrineau jr, and Harvey Keitel have never been better than in this multi-stranded comedy drama that revolves around a cigar stall. The characters are engrossing and it's nice to see these great actors playing normal people. They really don't make 'em like this anymore. A real, quailty film full of engaging, funny, and believable characters... There is an improvised sequel - which isn't as good called Blue in the Face that proves lighting rarely strikes twice. Awesome work all round from Wayne Wang (director - where is he nowadays?) and author Paul Auster!

10 out of 10 - peerless in its class

I've just learnt that the director and writer Paul Schrader was removed from the post-production stage of this movie and it shows. This no longer represents the Paul Schrader we know and love from films like First Reformed, Light Sleeper, and Taxi Driver. What we have is an incoherent, substandard action thriller with no thrills, ropey acting and a lack of conviction. I was hoping that this was going to be one of Nicolas Cage's better recent films but sadly this is a rather dead and limp actioner that probably once had a bit of depth to it, but I'm not convinced that this was ever going to be decent, as Nicolas Cage is pretty terrible in this.

Sorry but this potentially interesting film about jobbing NYC jazz musicians is a dud. That it doesn't work comes down to an unconvincing performance by Jeff Goldblum and a script that strives for honesty but comes off gauche and untranslatable for fine actors like Forest Whitaker and Kathy Baker. The endless scenes of Jeff Goldblum, Kathy Baker, and FW miming whilst singing and playing their instruments doesn't help too... and that's as much down to the sound mix as it is the performances... Ultimately, it ends up being a cliched, maudlin disease of the week movie... Shame. PS: look out for Don Cheadle in a small supporting role.

3 out of 10 - full of bum notes

Overly convoluted Australian drama that tries hard to present interesting characters but everybody on show bar a few are awful people. It's an interesting angle, that of the murderer trying to solve his own crime. As a child, James has a hand in drowning a child with a friend, but then he has an epileptic fit and the dead child's body goes missing. 10 years later he tries to discover how much involvement his friend had in the crime. The trouble is a local fmaily is trying to throw him off the scent, What are their reasons for doing so?

The cast are uniformly good, and the plot is quite murky, so you need to pay attention to connect all the parts together, as there is a lot behind the scenes that you only glimpse. There are lots of lengthy sex scenes in Downriver which don't seem to add anything to the plot - with an already slim running time, the makers could have revealed more of the story. Reef Ireland, Thom Green, Kerry Fox (LITTLE JOE / AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE / SHALLOW GRAVE), and Robert Taylor (THE MATRIX) are all brilliant, especially the latter as a truckie who has a sensitive insight into James' plight. The cryptic ending will anger some viewers.

However if you like Australian dramas like Jindabyne, Beautiful Kate, or Lantana, then this is a worthy addition to the canon.

7 out of 10

Terrible acting, godawful script and ropey SFX scupper this Independence Day knock-off from down under. Pity Temuera Morrison (Once Were Warriors / Book of Boba Fett) and Jacqueline McKenzie (Romper Stomper / Malignant) as they look bewildered throughout this cut-price, bargain-basement bore.

With ambitions that dwarf its budget this epic sci-fi from Australia is the first sequel to Occupation. Picking up where the first film left off the remnants of human society and some 'good' aliens try to survive against depleting odds against some really aggressive intergalactic foes. The acting and the script is really abyssmal even with the likes of Ken Jeong (Crazy Rich Asians / Hangover trilogy) and Temuera Morrison (Book of Boba Fett). The plot is basic and with only the SFX to lean on, this is a bit of a slog. There are some cool creatures like the Vox and a giant hand/spider apex predator, but beyond that, you've seen it better elsewhere. This even makes the wack Independence Day 2 look cool.

2 out of 10